Cedric’s mother Catherine Williamson recalled that they bought their IXL bakery from Frank Willis the day World War 11 was declared and sold it the day peace was announced.
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Bob Irish, who originally worked for Charlie Smith at 303 Grey Street remembered other bakers in the town then – James Henville, Charlie Hunt, C. A. Pearson, Les Hill and Charlie Leet.
Smeatons bought out C A Pearson in 1942 and later also Smiths, Henvilles & Leets.
Carl Baer ran the bakery at Deepwater, Jack Curnow the one at Emmaville and bread was also commercially baked at Red Range and Ben Lomond.
Williamsons baked for the army camp at the golf links, the Agricultural Experimental farm and the prison farm, and Catherine remembered:
“Bread was made by hand by placing large bags of flour, yeast and other ingredients in wooden troughs and when mixed were all left to rise for several hours.
Testing of the oven was done by scattering a handful of flour across the oven, depending on your own judgement as to how long the flour took to catch alight.
“Then it was kneaded on top of the trough, and cut and rolled into different shapes and sizes, then moulded and left to rise again, then put into individual tins and left to rise again before being placed in the oven.
“An average oven held 350 loaves and approximately 5000 were made each week. The fire was lit about an hour before the bread was ready, the wood was bought in cord loads, about 3 feet long.
“Testing of the oven was done by scattering a handful of flour across the oven, depending on your own judgement as to how long the flour took to catch alight.
“The large brick oven was about 18-20 feet long, with a furnace at the side, about six feet.
“One bag of flour made 100 loaves, each loaf weighing 2 pounds 4 ounces before cooking – allowing 4 ounces moisture loss.
“There were only two varieties brown and white. Only such makes as high top, married tin, sandwich and Vienna.
“Bread was delivered all over town and by mail vans to outside areas at no extra cost. It was done in town by horse and cart six days a week.
“The cost of bread then was 4 1/2 pence a loaf, pies 3 pence and a bun loaf 3 pence (Doust-Paragon).”
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